April 20th is this Wednesday, so we figured it was finally our chance to
cover a movie that we've been wanting to do since day one on this show, Airborne.
Ha, not really, except kind of seriously,
we would totally do Airborne if you guys were into it.
But now that we've got that random 90s reference out of the way,
here are 9 things you didn't know about Half-Baked, probably.
(Sound) >> Do you all want to smoke?
>> I'll get Billy Bong Thornton.
>> No, Scarface, no Billy Bong Thornton without candy,
that would not be right, man, use Wesley Pipes.
>> Half Baked begins with the origin story of how Thurgood and
the guys became such weed enthusiasts, but
you probably didn't know that the opening was almost cut from the film.
When director Tamra Davis was nearly done with Half Baked in post production,
some studio execs snuck in and watched it without her even knowing.
Generally the director's cut is handed into the studio and
that's supposed to be the first time they see it.
Well, when the suits saw that the film opened with kids smoking pot,
they freaked out.
Which is kind of stupid because they read the script.
Anyway, due to their panic, Davis then had to fight to keep her opening
by having a screening in front of 400 people in Pasadena California, as you do.
Luckily the audience went nuts.
They were applauding, getting out of their seats, they freaking loved the opening.
And obviously, it was enough to get Universal to back off and
let the film open the way it was intended.
(Sound) >> My father's a drug dealer.
>> Wow, that must have been a (Bleep).
>> It ruined his life.
>> That must have been (Bleep).
>> Dave Chappelle wrote Half Baked with his then writing partner Neal Brennan.
Now you already know that Chappelle stars in the film, but
you may not have known that Neal Brennan appears in it too.
That's him, right there,
on the mic at Royal Beefiness getting cursed out by Scarface.
>> I'm right behind you.
Turn around and ask me for hepa with cheese, yo.
Why you gotta make me feel inferior because I'm on the grill, B?
>> Brennan went on to co-create Chapelle's Show with Dave Chapelle, but
we all know how that turned out, so let's just move on to our next thing.
>> Still waiting on that hepper, Julio.
(Music)
>> Let me get a pan of your sweetest.
>> Damn, something told me to bring a lot of weed, man.
>> Dave Chapelle also plays Sir Smoka Lot which quite frankly is one of the funniest
characters in the movie.
What most people don't know is, they originally intended for
Snoop Dog to play Sir Smoka Lot.
It’s probably why they decided to give Sir Smoka Lot those braids.
In the end it probably saved them a lot of money to just have Dave play the part.
He wound up recording Samson Gets Me Lifted just the night
before they had to shoot the fake music video for it.
By the way, the set for the video is just a random apartment they found and
then covered it in weed,which is a bonus thing you didn’t know.
>> That is so cool, Mick.
(Noise) >> Even though Snoop didn't place or
Sir Smoke a Lot, he does appear in the film and
it's one of the most memorable scenes.
Throughout the shoot, Dave Chappelle and the other actors were smoking fake weed.
They were working, after all.
But the day they were shooting this scene with Snoop on the Universal lot,
things were a bit more cinema vérité, if you get my point.
And if you don't, what I'm saying is the weed here is real.
>> You know we sell this, I don't know if you knew that.
>> That's too bad, man, I just stopped smoking yesterday.
>> Director Tamra Davis was understandably extremely nervous and
anxious about what was happening.
She probably should've smoked a joint.
Anyway, things got even more nerve racking when in In the middle of the shoot,
a bunch of Universal security officers started approaching the set.
Davis was convinced they were there to shut them down for smoking weed, but
it turned out, they all just wanted autographs from Snoop, which, honestly,
is super unprofessional.
Even more unprofessional than smoking real weed while you're filming a pot movie,
allegedly.
>> Nice seeing you.
(Sound) Let's talk about some prison theme.
(Sound) >> See for
this scene in the prison shower,
you probably assumed that costuming gave the actors and
extras something to cover up their wangs and that's technically true, they did.
The problem was the dong cozies were really just flimsy stockings which were
then taped on.
So of course, none of them stayed on.
So the next time you see this scene, you can think about how, just below the frame,
or whenever their back's to the camera, all these guys have their junk flopping
out of their cover ups like a jack-in-the-box.
(Sound) The look of the guys' apartment in
Half Baked is probably the most iconic set.
But most people don't know that The Beastie Boys
inadvertently had a major influence on its production design.
Take those lockers in the background or those paintings on the walls, those
are all from Grand Royal, the recording studio where The Beastie Boys recorded.
See Tamra Davis is married to a Beastie Boy, Mike D to be specific.
Bonus thing you didn't know, by the way.
So Tamra Davis liked the look of Grand Royal so
much that she took a bunch of photos of it for inspiration and then basically decided
to steal the parts she liked best for the apartment in Half Baked.
If for some reason you haven't seen Half Baked and
you're still watching this, I'll advise you to jump ahead to our last thing now
because these next two things contain spoilers.
>> You like popcorn, makes your teeth go.
(Sound) Pop, pop, pop,pop.
(Laugh) >> All right,
the coast should be clear now, so let's talk about the very end of the movie.
Ending Half Baked was a bit of a challenge for
the film makers because they weren't really sure how to end it.
The idea that Thurgood sacrifices his beloved weed for
a girl wasn't sitting too well with the production team.
So most people don't know that there was a version where the film
actually ended with him jumping into the water to go after the joint.
>> Hold on, weed, I'm coming!
>> So we know that's not what they ended up doing.
Still, it was a challenge for the team to sort out how Thurgood could still
get the girl without seeming like he sold out.
(Music)
After going back and forth with the studio for awhile, Dave Chapelle and
the team came up with the line that we all know and love at the very end of the film.
>> I love weed, okay?
I love it, but not as much as I love BLEEP.
>> The interesting part was, Chapelle and the director had to formally present this
line as Half Baked's ending in front of a whole panel of executives from the studio.
It was like they were pitching an ending for Citizen Kane.
By some miracle, the studio agreed to let them do it.
But, Universal was still never fully behind Half Baked overall,
which brings us to our last thing.
(Sound) >> You're paying attention?
>> No.
(Laugh) Sorry man.
>> Universal only let Half Baked have a four week run in theaters.
Partially due to the fact that people were lining up in theaters and
smoking weed during the movie.
The studio, straight up, didn't want to be responsible for that.
But, even with such a short run, Half Baked managed to make somewhere between
three and our times it's budget in just a month.
And it's had an even bigger life since then as a cult classic.
So, the studio was proven wrong, which makes this an even happier ending.
Okay, admittedly this episode was more for us than it was for
you guys, but we hope you liked it anyway.
And if you want to check out another 420 appropriate episode.
Be sure to watch the one we did on the Big Lebowski.
Lastly, don't forget to check out Cinefix.com and subscribe for
more truish things about movies and sometimes, (Sound).
Right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Music).
>> Doctor said I need a backeotomy.